


Natalie's Debut

by JessBakesCakes



Category: Sports Night
Genre: Friendship, Gen, Humor, Male Friendship, Male-Female Friendship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-12-21
Updated: 2011-12-21
Packaged: 2017-10-27 17:05:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,776
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/298074
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JessBakesCakes/pseuds/JessBakesCakes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dan and Casey help Natalie prepare for her first night as substitute anchor.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Natalie's Debut

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Malana](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Malana/gifts).



> A very happy Yuletide to you, malana! I hope you enjoy your fic! It was the greatest excuse for canon review ever. Have a wonderful holiday season and a great new year! Thank you so so very much to my wonderful and fantastic beta [redacted until reveal] for EVERYTHING. You've been so helpful and wonderful!

“I’m fairly certain these swivel chairs weren’t invented for the sole purpose of swiveling,” Casey observes as he adjusts the papers in front of him while Dan spins in small semi circles in the chair to Casey’s right.

“Just one of those days, Casey.”

“I should never have had you come along to get the candy for Charlie’s Christmas stocking.”

Dan shrugs. “Well, the Pixy Stix were calling my name, and when you get the call, you answer it.”

“Has anyone told you you’re actually twelve years old?”

“Thrice today, actually.” He nods confidently, drumming his fingers on the desk.

Casey is all business on this particular night. Dan briefly considers mentioning the time that Casey ate an entire package of Twizzlers, hoping to battle through his writer’s block, but decides against it. Dan looks over his left shoulder, then his right, before pushing his palms against the surface of the desk, propelling his chair back a few feet. He attempts to pull himself back to his original position when he hears the thirty second warning, but gives up with fifteen seconds to go.

“Was it worth it?”

Dan can practically _feel_ the sarcasm in Casey’s tone. “Absolutely.” Casey shakes his head as Dan opens the show. “Good evening. From New York City, I'm Dan Rydell alongside Casey McCall. Those stories, plus we'll take you inside the MLB’s winter meetings… which team’s selling, and which team’s buying? And we’ll recap this week in the NFL, and give you our completely irrelevant predictions for Sunday’s action.”  
“All that coming up after this. You're watching Sports Night on CSC, so stick around.”

Dan listens for the call, and repeats his earlier gesture, pushing his chair back just a little less this time. He slides himself from one end of the desk to the other.

“While I’m thinking about it, Danny, I’ve got that thing to go to on Monday night.”

“What thing?”

“That school thing.”

“Ah, right, that school thing you’ve told me nothing about until this very moment in time. Of course.” Dan pulls himself back into position and folds his hands on the desk. “ Who’s going to be you on Monday night?”

“Not sure yet. And I told you about this weeks ago.”

Dan adjusts his earpiece. “You know, I have an idea. If they haven’t already picked somebody, that is.”

“As much as I love Kermit the Frog, I doubt he’d want to co-anchor Sports Night with you.” Casey adjusts his tie.

“I wasn’t thinking Kermit, but I stand by my opinion of The Frog-Rydell show.”

“Fifteen seconds!” Dave’s voice echoes through the studio.

“I’ll tell you after the show.”

Casey nods. “I’m looking forward to it.”

-

Dan’s coming off the sugar high, but his leg is still shaking when he sits down on the couch. The show has been over for fifteen minutes, and Dan’s been sitting in this particular spot for fourteen and a half. He cranes his neck to see if he can spot Casey through the glass door. Casey has been stopped by Jeremy, who has been trying to get Casey to see his side in a debate for days.

When Casey manages to extract himself from the conversation, he barely has a chance to open the door before Dan pitches his idea. “About Monday.”

“I predicted ten seconds, Danny, but you never disappoint. I’d say that was three fifths of a second.”

“I’m thinking Natalie.”

“Natalie? Our Natalie?” Casey takes a seat across the room from Dan.

“Our Natalie.”

“Didn’t you say—”

“It’s been a year. She has showed me that tape every month for the past four months. Each one was better than the previous one. I think she’s ready.”

“You are a man who admires commitment.” Casey leans back in his chair. “Have you asked Dana?”

“Gave me the green light ages ago for whenever one of us needed a day. I wanted to run it past you first, so Dana didn’t get to her before we did.”

“Why wasn’t I invited to this meeting you had with Dana?” Casey asks, brushing some fuzz off of his suit jacket.

“I didn’t know you’d be gone until a little over an hour ago. And I was going to invite you that day, but you were otherwise engaged.”

“Otherwise engaged? You make it sound like I was having sex in the supply closet.”

“Wouldn’t put it past you.” Dan tears open a few more Pixy Stix and pours them into his mouth. “Anyway. Natalie. Our Natalie.”

“Our Natalie. I don’t see why not. If you’re that confident in her abilities, and she’s willing—”

Dan shakes his head. “Now you’re really starting to sound like you were otherwise engaged in some sort of nefarious act.”

“I see that Word of the Day toilet paper Isaac got you for Christmas last year is really working.” Casey presses a few keys on his keyboard.

“It’s a Word of the Day desk calendar, and yes, it is.”

“I don’t see why that wouldn’t work out. When do we tell her?” Casey grabs a pencil and begins to tap the eraser on the side of his desk.

“Well, how about right now?” Dan shoots up from his spot and heads toward the door.

“Slow down, there, Gunpowder. We can’t just ambush her with this kind of thing on the spot.”

“How do you suppose we do it? Barbershop quartet? Singing telegram? Smoke signal?”

“Skywriting, actually.” Casey continues to look at the screen. “I’m just saying, we don’t want to just dump this information on Natalie, and leave her to process it without a plan.”

“Casey.”

“I mean, yes, we want to have some sort of an element of surprise to this, since she’s wanted it for so long, but I feel like we need to pull one from the playbook on this one. We owe it to Natalie.”

“Owe what to me?” Natalie slips through the doorway and grabs the last few Pixy Stix from the bag on her way by.

Casey gestures to Dan. “You want to tell her, since it was your bright idea?”

Dan motions toward the couch. “Have a seat.”

Natalie takes a seat and Dan follows. He sits for just a moment, then stands again, leaning on the doorframe. He moves from the doorframe and positions himself at the end of the desk. Then he finally sits back down next to Natalie in his original spot on the couch. “I’m trying to figure out where’s the best spot to give this kind of news from.”

“Does it matter?” Natalie places her clipboard on her lap.

“Not in the slightest,” Casey declares, finishing what he’s been doing on the computer.

“It does indeed matter. This is huge and life-altering , and when you tell this story to your children someday, I want it to be a good story.” Dan stands, then sits again.

“When she tells this story, I’m sure this indecision will also be a part of it.” Casey sneaks past and grabs his coat from the coat rack.

Dan stays on the couch, finally comfortable in his position. “Natalie. Casey has a thing at the school on Monday night.”

Casey is quick to interject. “A thing that I told him about ages ago, but he doesn’t seem to remember.”

“Do you want to fill in for Casey on Monday night?” Dan holds his hands out to either side of his body, extending his fingers as he ends the question, for dramatic effect.

“Really?” Natalie’s clipboard slides off her lap and onto the floor as she launches herself at Dan for a hug.

“This is one hundred percent, true to life, real,” Dan says, returning the gesture.

Natalie stands up, half jogging toward Casey as Dan reaches down just in time to swoop the now-abandoned clipboard from her path. He places it beside him, snatches the Pixy Stix she has also forgotten about, and stands up.

“This is… amazing. Did you ask Dana already?” Natalie tucks her hair behind her ears and pushes up both of her sleeves, unsure of what to do with herself.

Casey nods. “It’s all taken care of. Frankly, we’re surprised she didn’t spill it before we got a chance to talk to you.”

“She’s been trying to get me to stop by her office all day, but I was busy.”

“She put two and two together faster than we did. She’s sneaky.” Dan folds his arms across his chest.

Natalie sees the handful of Pixy Stix Dan is holding, and snatches them back. “I will not tolerate any hazing.”

Casey laughs. “Duly noted.”

“Can we have a couple of practice runs before Monday? Just so you can give me some helpful hints?”

“For two of your Pixy Stix.” Dan holds out his hand.

“Natalie, before, when you said Dana was trying to get you to see her in her office… what did you say you were doing?” Casey puts on his jacket.

“Nothing. I just said I was busy. Why?” Natalie sifts through the Pixy Stix in her hand as though she is determining the decency of a poker hand.

Casey motions toward Dan. “Dan said the phrase ‘otherwise engaged’ today, in reference to a time I was busy. It made me sound like I was having a secret rendezvous in the copy room. See, when you say that, Dan, it implies that your co-workers are engaged in some sort of illicit behavior.”

“How do you know I _wasn’t_ engaged in some sort of illicit behavior?” Natalie raises an eyebrow.

“Were you?” Dan pauses for a moment. “Actually, you know what, don’t answer that. I don’t want to know.”

“Nope. You definitely don’t.” Natalie hands Dan two of the Pixy Stix and gives him a quick peck on the cheek. “Thank you. Both of you. Practice session tomorrow?”

“You know where to find us.” Casey stuffs his hands in his pockets.

Natalie exits the office, and Dan opens his hand. “She stuck me with Grape. Is it too late to change my mind?”  


-

The next day, Natalie is seated to Dan’s left at the desk, and Casey is standing by the cameras. They’ve been practicing for twenty minutes, and they have yet to pass the introductions. “Hang on one second.” Casey jogs into frame, approaching the desk. He leans forward, looking Natalie in the eye. “So, you’re doing great.”

“Thank you.” Natalie folds her hands.

“Small suggestion. Well, a couple of them.” Casey gently places his hand on Natalie’s shoulder. “First, breathe. It’s hard to do this if there’s not an exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide.”

“Got it.” Natalie grabs a pen and writes _BREATHE_ at the top of the first sheet of her legal pad, underlining it several times.

“Second? I know the lights are a little bright, but there’s no need to overcompensate by opening your eyes so wide that they have a frighteningly real possibility of staying that way.”

“I thought that was just a myth.” Natalie closes her eyes a little.

“I thought it was, too.” Dan doesn’t look up from his script.

Casey takes a few steps backward. “Well, you know, let’s not test that theory today, okay?”

Natalie reached toward the bottom of her chair. “So to what degree do I rely on the teleprompter, and to what degree do I rely on the script?”

“Well, when you’re on camera, it would make sense to… you know, look at the camera.” Dan motions toward the cameras stationed in front of them.

Natalie nods. “Right.”

“And when you’re not on camera, you can work with these a little more.” Dan reaches over and taps Natalie’s script.

“Seems reasonable. So what if—”

Casey makes his way back toward the desk. “Natalie, you’re going to do fine. I haven’t seen the tape, but Dan has, and he assures me that you’re totally and completely prepared for this. We trust you. You know what you‘re doing. Now, just try to relax.”

Dan swivels his chair around to face Natalie. “It seems much more intimidating the first time you do it.”

Casey drums his palms on the desk for emphasis. “Practice makes perfect.”

“If at first, you don’t succeed—”

Natalie shakes her head. “Don’t finish that sentence, Dan. I will succeed.”

“Ladies and gentlemen, Natalie Hurley.” Casey returns to his original spot behind the cameras.

“Amateurs built the ark, professionals built the Titanic.” Natalie straightens up in her seat.

“What does that say about us?” Dan turns his chair back and faces forward.

Natalie shrugs. “What do you think it says?”

“I think it says that I will crash and burn and you will perform in a manner that is no less than stellar. What happened to teamwork?” Dan smiles.

Casey pulls a chair over to where he is standing. “Look at that, you two have the banter down already.”

“And that, Natalie, is something that simply cannot be taught.” Dan puts his pencil down. “From the top.”

The rest of the fake run-through goes smoothly. They stop a few times to give Natalie some pointers: _Smile, but not too wide. Talk slowly, but not at a turtle’s pace. No, it is not possible for Dan to kick you from as far away as he is._ The show closes and Natalie is grinning. “I think I’ve got this.”

“I know you do.” Dan gently pats her shoulder on his way by. “Nice work. See you at the rundown.”

-

“I think I’m being hazed.” Natalie is seated at Casey’s desk on Monday night. Her hands are gripping the arms of the chair, and her palms are growing sweaty.

“You’re not being hazed.” Dan is going through the final version of the night’s script. He checks his watch. Ten fifty. Natalie is just about due for a nervous breakdown that eventually morphs into an unshakeable confidence. He expects nothing less.

Natalie stands up and begins to pace. “I am absolutely being hazed.”

“Why is that?”

“There aren’t any issues. You haven’t tripped and broken an ankle. I haven’t lost my voice. Everyone is fine. Everything is fine.” Natalie sits next to Dan on the couch.

“Okay. So, because no one is bleeding from the head, you assume things are bad? Do you care to explain that logic?”

“I just expected things to be going on around me that were completely beyond my control. I’d planned for all of them.” Natalie’s talking faster now, gesturing wildly as she speaks.

“You’d planned? For the things you couldn’t… plan for?” Dan shakes his head. “Look, Natalie, the lack of bad things… well, it’s a good thing.”

“Normally, I would agree with you. But in my head, it’s like if you say ‘Macbeth’ in a theatre.”

“How is that even remotely close to like saying ‘Macbeth’ in a theatre?”

Natalie shrugs. “In my head, it made perfect sense.”

Dan leads Natalie toward the door. “Everything’s going to be fine. What happened to the ark and Titanic thing you were talking about the other day?”

Natalie walks slightly ahead of Dan toward the studio. “True.”

“And you took all those notes, and we practiced.”

“I have a cheat sheet, just in case.” Natalie rolls up her sleeve to reveal some important statistics on her arm.

Dan takes a seat. “Okay. Well, uh, don’t roll your sleeve up on the air, then. I think that’s a good start.”

“Good plan.”

“You can do this. You know you can. You’re just psyching yourself out.”

“Psyching myself out?”

“You’re getting an anticipatory case of the yips.”

Natalie straightens out her copy of the script. “The yips.”

“The yips. I mean, you’re not using your fine motor skills, but it’s the same concept.”

“Huh.”

“I’m of the mind that it’s not just golfers. You can give yourself the yips if you don’t talk yourself out of it.”

Natalie laughs. “You sound like you’re doing a public service announcement for a deadly disease.”

“The more you know.” Dave gives the one minute warning and Dan turns to Natalie. “You’re going to do great. You’re prepared for this. In fact, it’s insane how prepared you are.”

“Thanks, Dan.”

“Feeling okay?”

“Feeling good.”

Natalie is in the zone now. Dan smiles as he watches her visibly loosen up. She looks right at home as Dan opens the show. “Good evening, from New York City I'm Dan Rydell alongside the lovely Natalie Hurley, sitting in for Casey McCall. Those stories plus, we'll take you to snowy Denver, Colorado, where the Avalanche refers to more than just a rapid flow of snow down a slope.”

“All that comin' up after this. You're watching Sports Night on CSC, so stick around.”


End file.
